Friday, September 14, 2012

Records In Catalina Channel vs. English Channel

Petar Stoychev was the first person to break 7 hours in the English Channel. Trent Grimsey became the second person to break 7 hours in the 18.2 nautical mile (20.9 statute mile) Channel. But how do these swims among the world's elite compare to the fastest times of its near-equivalent in the Pacific Ocean, the 17.5nm (20.2 statute mile) Catalina Channel?

Even though the English Channel is longer, colder, more tidal, and rougher, the average times of the fastest are faster in the English Channel than in the Catalina Channel.

The English Channel is definitely more tidal so there are significantly greater lateral forces against the English Channel swimmer than the Catalina Channel swimmer. The Catalina Channel is also more calm on any given swim in the English Channel because the Catalina Channel swimmer starts at night when the winds are non-existent or light in most cases. With lesser winds and therefore less surface turbulence, the incidence of swallowing water and resultant seasickness are opt to be lesser problems in the Catalina Channel than the English Channel.

Unless there are unseasonably warm spells in the Catalina Channel, the English Channel generally has more jellyfish than the Catalina Channel. Although there are more shark and whale sightings in the Catalina Channel, the probability of encounters between swimmers and sharks and whales is extremely low. While crew members occasionally see sharks and whales in the Catalina Channel, the swimmers themselves rarely encounter either of these ocean creatures.

To swim the shortest distance possible, it is definitely more difficult in the English Channel where if a swimmer misses Cap Gris-Nez in France, then the distance becomes greater. In contrast, in the Catalina Channel, if a swimmers misses the absolute shortest point on the California mainland, there is still plenty of land close by to finish on that only requires a few more hundreds of meters swimming.

In the Catalina Channel, there is a great deal of confidence among swimmers that their scheduled day with their pilot will be swimmable. The Catalina Channel may not be exactly flat or optimal on any given day, but the Pacific Ocean is certainly swimmable for the well-trained swimmer. There are specific reasons why the ocean was originally called "Pacífico" because of the calm seas encountered by Ferdinand Magellan on his journey across the world's biggest ocean.

Contrary to the general comfort and confidence that the Catalina Channel will be swimmable on their given day, athletes facing the English Channel just never know. They could wait for days or weeks, hoping and not knowing when they will swim. The added stress of the increasing financial burden and the fundamental uncertainty can psychologically deflating and frustrating. And this uncertainty in the English Channel - so foreign to the Catalina Channel swimmer - continues not only right up to the start of the swim, but also right up until the swimmer touches land in France because of the tempestuous nature of the English Channel.

So if the English Channel is longer, rougher, more unpredictable with more jellyfish that generates more frustration, uncertainty and stress, why is it that the fastest swimmers can cross the English Channel faster than across the Catalina Channel?

It may be for a variety of reasons:

1. Many more swimmers attempt the English Channel than the Catalina Channel.
2. With so many more attempts, the pilots because more savvy and can direct swimmers across in a more optimal manner.
3. Many more fast, young, professional marathon swimmers attempt the English Channel than the Catalina Channel.
4. While the average woman is faster than the average man across the English Channel, the fastest men are still faster than the fastest women. With the exception of Chad Hundeby, the Catalina Channel has not been attempted by the top men in the world at their prime as in the English Channel (e.g., Trent Grimsey, Petar Stoychev, Christof Wandratsch, Yuri Kudinov, Vitek Rostislav, David Meca).

But who really knows? Channel swimming is notoriously fickle. In some cases swimmers like Penny Dean swim faster in the Catalina Channel (7:15) than in the English Channel (7:40) and in other cases the reverse is true (Chad Hundeby swam 7:17 in the English Channel vs. a 8:14 in Catalina).

The Other Shore

The Other Shore follows world record holder and legendary swimmer Diana Nyad as she comes out of a thirty-year retirement to re-attempt an elusive dream: swimming 103 miles non-stop from Cuba to Florida without the use of a shark cage. Her past and present collide in her obsession with a feat that nobody has ever accomplished. At the edge of The Devil’s Triangle, tropical storms, sharks, venomous jellyfish, and one of the strongest ocean currents in the world, all prove to be life-threatening realities. Timothy Wheeler’s documentary brings Diana Nyad’s extraordinary adventure to life as Diana sets out to prove that will and determination are all you need to make the unimaginable possible.LEARN MORE...

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